San Diego Padres prospect update: Trenton Brooks, Leo De Vries, Tirso Ornelas, Ethan Salas

The 2025 Minor League Baseball season is underway. Padres prospects, new and old, have finally got on the field to play some games. Top prospects Leo De Vries and Ethan Salas are off to a bit of a slow start, while Tirso Ornelas already looks locked in. Trenton Brooks, 29 years old, has been the best player in San Diego's farm through 11 games.

San Diego Padres prospect update: De Vries, Salas off to slower starts

De Vries and Salas are the top two prospects in the organization, and the only two Padres ranked in the Top 100 across baseball. De Vries is beginning the season with High-A Fort Wayne, and through four games, he is 4-for-16 with six strikeouts. Although the K's are racking up already, he's managed to score one time in each contest to offset him going down on strikes so much.

Salas is with Double-A San Antonio, and after his first five games, he's hitting .211. Salas is getting it done when it matters most, though, and has five RBIs and only two strikeouts.

Ornelas has been hot with Triple-A El Paso. Many Padres fans wanted him on the Opening Day roster after a strong start to spring training, but he ultimately was sent down. His presence has already been made known through 11 contests, going 12-for-41 (.293) with six RBIs, one home run, one double, and eight walks. He's scored in six straight games, riding a four-game hitting streak, which makes him impossible to overlook by San Diego's front office staff.

The Padres' hottest start in the minors has been off the bat of Trenton Brooks. In his first 11 games, Brooks has five doubles, four home runs, 16 RBIs, 12 runs, and 10 walks. He has a multi-hit game in six contests and at least one hit in each game, including a walk-off home run on Thursday night.

Brooks has played in 12 MLB games in his career, batting .120 last season with the San Francisco Giants.